22 bank accounts in S Kashmir under NIA lens for terror funding, Hizb links
NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is examining around 22 bank accounts in south Kashmir that received unaccounted money and saw withdrawals coinciding with the current unrest in the valley, will probe possible links of the account holders with Hizbul Mujahideen or its cadres, Kashmiri separatists and terror financiers based in Pakistan.
NIA sources indicated that in the event of the preliminary enquiry unearthing a direct link between the payments/disbursals and the ongoing protests, related offences may be added to the existing NIA case relating to JKART (Jammu Kashmir Affectees Relief Trust), a Pakistan-based frontal outfit of Hizbul Mujahideen charged with funding terror activities in India.
NIA had registered JKART case in 2011 and after a thorough probe found that the trust, floated in 1999 at a meeting chaired by Hizbul chief Syed Salahuddin in Rawalpindi with the connivance of Pakistani government and ISI, was systematically raising funds in Pakistan and sending it to India through the hawala and banking channels.
As per the NIA chargesheet, around Rs 80-crore was routed through JKART to India over eight years, mainly through banking channels. Sources said the preliminary enquiry begun by NIA last week into 22 bank accounts of individuals and firms based in south Kashmir has found suspicious money transfers.
For instance, one account belonging to a carpenter received Rs 16 lakh and was abruptly closed within 3-4 months. Other accounts are of small and medium size firms with total turnovers between Rs 33-34 crore but which together showed a total income of just Rs 4 lakh in income tax returns. NIA has tracked withdrawals from these accounts timed a day or two before the protests that have marked the current cycle of violence. The agency is studying the dates of withdrawals to look for a pattern that may point to funds transfers to the trouble-mongers.
"We are probing if those making the payments are linked to Hizbul Mujahideen or have relatives in Pakistan or PoK or who may have acted as conduits for terror funds arranged by Pakistan to fuel the current agitiation," said a senior NIA officer. NIA will examine if the firms under the scanner just concealed income or if they were meant to act as terror fund conduits with little trading/business activity.
"In case our suspicion is backed by evidence, we need not register a fresh case. The terror funding offences can be made part of the JKART case, in which a chargesheet and two supplementary chargesheets have been filed but the role of some suspects, including those linked to separatists, is still being investigated," said an NIA officer.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/22-bank-accounts-in-S-Kashmir-under-NIA-lens-for-terror-funding-Hizb-links/articleshow/53865260.cms
NIA sources indicated that in the event of the preliminary enquiry unearthing a direct link between the payments/disbursals and the ongoing protests, related offences may be added to the existing NIA case relating to JKART (Jammu Kashmir Affectees Relief Trust), a Pakistan-based frontal outfit of Hizbul Mujahideen charged with funding terror activities in India.
NIA had registered JKART case in 2011 and after a thorough probe found that the trust, floated in 1999 at a meeting chaired by Hizbul chief Syed Salahuddin in Rawalpindi with the connivance of Pakistani government and ISI, was systematically raising funds in Pakistan and sending it to India through the hawala and banking channels.
For instance, one account belonging to a carpenter received Rs 16 lakh and was abruptly closed within 3-4 months. Other accounts are of small and medium size firms with total turnovers between Rs 33-34 crore but which together showed a total income of just Rs 4 lakh in income tax returns. NIA has tracked withdrawals from these accounts timed a day or two before the protests that have marked the current cycle of violence. The agency is studying the dates of withdrawals to look for a pattern that may point to funds transfers to the trouble-mongers.
"We are probing if those making the payments are linked to Hizbul Mujahideen or have relatives in Pakistan or PoK or who may have acted as conduits for terror funds arranged by Pakistan to fuel the current agitiation," said a senior NIA officer. NIA will examine if the firms under the scanner just concealed income or if they were meant to act as terror fund conduits with little trading/business activity.
"In case our suspicion is backed by evidence, we need not register a fresh case. The terror funding offences can be made part of the JKART case, in which a chargesheet and two supplementary chargesheets have been filed but the role of some suspects, including those linked to separatists, is still being investigated," said an NIA officer.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/22-bank-accounts-in-S-Kashmir-under-NIA-lens-for-terror-funding-Hizb-links/articleshow/53865260.cms
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